CHAPTER 4.1.9 GROUND WATER RESOURCES TIRUVANNAMALAI DISTRICT 1 INDEX CHAPTER PAGE NO. INTRODUCTION 3 TIRUVANNAMALAI DISTRICT – ADMINISTRATIVE SETUP 3 1. HYDROGEOLOGY 3-7 2. GROUND WATER REGIME MONITORING 8-15 3. DYNAMIC GROUND WATER RESOURCES 15-24 4. GROUND WATER QUALITY ISSUES 24-25 5. GROUND WATER ISSUES AND CHALLENGES 25-26 6. GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT AND REGULATION 26-32 7. TOOLS AND METHODS 32-33 8. PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 33-36 9. REFORMS UNDERTAKEN/ BEING UNDERTAKEN / PROPOSED IF ANY 10. ROAD MAPS OF ACTIVITIES/TASKS PROPOSED FOR BETTER GOVERNANCE WITH TIMELINES AND AGENCIES RESPONSIBLE FOR EACH ACTIVITY 2 GROUND WATER REPORT OF TIRUVANNAMALAI DISTRICT INRODUCTION : In Tamil Nadu, the surface water resources are fully utilized by various stake holders. The demand of water is increasing day by day. So, groundwater resources play a vital role for additional demand by farmers and Industries and domestic usage leads to rapid development of groundwater. About 63% of available groundwater resources are now being used. However, the development is not uniform all over the State, and in certain districts of Tamil Nadu, intensive groundwater development had led to declining water levels, increasing trend of Over Exploited and Critical Firkas, saline water intrusion, etc. ADMINISTRATIVE SET UP Thiruvannamalai District was established on 30.09.1989 by bifurcating the erstwhile North Arcot District with Thiruvannamalai as its head quarters. The Geographical extent is 6, 31,205 Hectares (6312.05 sq.km) accounting for 4.85% of the geographical area of Tamilnadu State. The district has well laid out roads, connecting all major towns with in the State and has a railway line connecting the famous temple town of Thiruvannamalai with other districts. For administrative purpose, it has been further subdivided into six Taluks,52 Firkas and eighteen Blocks (Table 1 and Map 1) and comprises 0f 1071 villages. Tiruvannamalai district is totally bifurcated into 52 Firkas. 1. HYDROGELOGY (i) Major Geological formations: Geology: The origin, occurrence and movement of groundwater are controlled by geological setup of a terrain. Hence, a clear understanding of the sub surface geological conditions is of primary importance. Geologically, the area lying with in this district can be broadly classified into hard rock and sedimentary terrain. 3 a) Hard rocks More than 95% of the area of this district is underlain by hard rock formations. These hard rock formations are predominantly occupied by gneissic rock. Charockites are prevalent in the western part, in and around Javadu hills, around central part of Tiruvannamalai block and as narrow limbs in parts of Cheyyar and Vandavasitaluks. b) Sedimentary formations Sedimentary formations include the transported materials by means of stream, river, wind etc., which are either loose or compact in nature. The common terminology used for such formations are alluvium which consists of sandstone, compact gravels, shales, etc., Alluvial or unconsolidated formation occur as thin and isolated patches along the river Cheyyar and also in southern portion of the river Palar. They generally consists of sand, gravel, gravelly soil, clay, etc., which are recent to sub recent (quarternary) in age. b.1) Gondwana formations These are semi-consolidated formations consisting of sandstone and shale. Drilling of boreholes: Thorough knowledge of the sub-surface geological framework is absolutely necessary to understand the hydrogeological condition existing with in it. To ascertain the sub-surface geological and aquifers parameters , boreholes are drilled in this district by State Ground and Surface Water Resources Data Centre, Tharamani, Chennai. More than 140 bore holes were drilled, spreading over the entire district, to find out the behaviour and nature of the water bearing zones. It is inferred that in Arni, Polur and Cheyyartaluks considerable thickness of weathered and jointed formations to a maximum depth of 32 meters below ground surface are existing, depending upon topography and relief. However, in the remaining parts, the thickness of weathering is restricted to a maimum depth of 25 meters below ground level, which indicates that there is diversity in nature of the formations even within a short distance. The depth to bed rock is varying from 18 m to 42 m. Fractured zone occursin between 5 and 38 m. 4 Aquifer parameters: The thickness of aquifers (weathered and jointed portion) in this district is highly erratic and varies from 18 to 32 meters below ground level. The intergranular porosity is essentially depending upon the intensity and degree of weathering and fracture development in the bed rock. It is noted that thickness if weathering is more in gnessic formation and moderate in chrnockite formation. The range of aquifer parameters in hard rock region is given below. Aquifer Characteristics S.No. Parameters Range Well yield in LPM 1. (Average pumping of 2 30 to 250 hrs in a day) Transmissivity (T) 2. 12 to 43 m2/day 3. Permeability (K) m/day 0.39 to 1.56 (iii) Drilling: The drilling types are different according to the formation of the terrain. In general, DTH rigs are used in Hard rock formations for drilling a borewell at a depth ranges from 30m to 200m, according to the extension of joints, fractures, lineaments, etc in an area. In Sedimentary formations, rotary rigs with different rotors used according to the Tube well’s diameter. The Bento novate clay is used in rotary rigs to avoid the collapse of the Tube well. The sedimentary tube wells are drilled up to a depth of 30m to 300m depending on the area, yield,etc. In alluvial formations, the hand rotary used for drilling tube wells ranges from 10m to 15m.In river beds, infiltration tube wells used for extraction of groundwater. In Hard rock, the well designing is simple. The upper top soil and highly weathered zone is cased with PVC pipe and the remaining weathered, Fissured, Jointed portion is left as it is. In Tiruvannamalai District, the weathered zone ranges from 1.0m to 12.0m. In Granitic gneiss area, the highly weathered portion will be more up to 15m but in charnockite area, the weathered zone will extend up to 8.0m to 10.m 5 only. In Sedimentary area, the well construction depends on the occurrence of sand thickness in the referred area. The logger is also used in the construction to identify the area of good quality of water. 2. GROUNDWATER REGIME MONITORING: (i) Notes on existing water level scenario: The water level is being monitored by State Ground & Surface Water Resources Data Centre from 1971 onwards from a network of 1746 observation wells (shallow open wells) located all over the State. The water level readings are observed in the first week of every month by the field officers. In Tiruvannamalai District,224 observation wells and 61 piezometers,totally 285 wells are monitoring on Monthly basis. The Central Ground Water Board also monitors the water level from 900 numbers of wells spread all over the State. They observe water level four times in a year. ( i.e January, May, August and November). The collected water level data are uploaded in GWDES software and database is maintained regularly for analysing the water level trend with rainfall. From the Monitoring network of wells, the selected representative wells are taken for Resource Estimation computations. In Tiruvannamalai District, during the pre monsoon, the water level generally in declining trend ranges from G.L. to 15m. The depth of well below GroundLevel 12.0m are become dry during hot season like May, June, July. In the post monsoon, the water level generally in upward trend due to rainfall and it may reach the Ground Level also. The water level trend maps for pre and post monsoons are included as Annexure- I & II. (ii) Long term trend of water level: The long term fluctuations of water levels range from G.L. to 14.0m in many parts of the Tiruvannamalai District. The analysis reveals that the water level has gone down in the north, west and central parts of the Tiruvannamalai District. The inference taken from the annual fluctuation is due to lack of rainfall which in turn affects the groundwater levels in phreatic aquifer. The seasonal fluctuation study reveals that due to necessity for development of ground water for different sectored needs and due to failure of monsoons, the water level has gone down. The hydrograph of observation wells water level trend from 2005 to 2017 enclosed as Annexure – III and water level 6 trend from 2000 to 2017 of Piezometers enclosed as Annexure – IV for Tiruvannamalai District. (iii) Existing network of Monitoring wells: In Tiruvannamalai District, the existing network of monitoring wells is 285 wells, 224 wells are observation wells and 61 wells are piezometers. These wells are observed for every month water level. Thiruvannamalai District Observation Wells - Location and Co-ordinates Well No District Tahsil / Taluk Block / Mandal Village Latitude Longitude 23001 Thiruvannamalai Thiruvannamalai Thiruvannamalai Thandarai 12°07'15" 79°09'27" 23002 Thiruvannamalai Varagur 12°08'00" 79°02'00" 23003 Thiruvannamalai Chengam Thandarampattu Olagalapadi 12°08'45" 78°55'00" 23006 Thiruvannamalai Chengam Kilpennathur Sorapanandal 12°14'20" 78°52'20" 23007 Thiruvannamalai Chengam Chengam Melchengam 12°16'20" 78°43'30" Nayadimangal 23008 Thiruvannamalai Thiruvannamalai Thurinjapuram 12°24'18" 79°06'06" am Muniappantha 23008A Thiruvannamalai Thiruvannamalai Thiruvannamalai 12°24'10" 79°06'00" ngal 23009 Thiruvannamalai Thiruvannamalai Thurinjapuram Sirugalambadi